It is generally understood that a railroad switch apparatus is used to switch a train from a first set of railroad tracks to a second set of railroad tracks. The typical railroad switch apparatus includes a pair of movable rails and a switch machine or hand throw machine for moving the movable rails. These movable rails are also known as point rails. The railroad switch apparatus will also include assorted connective hardware that extends between the movable rails and the switch machine for various purposes. As is known in the art, the switch machine/hand throw machine provides the forces necessary to move the point rails between a first position and a second position and to lock the rails in the one of the positions. For example, when the point rails are in the first position, a first point rail will contact/engage a first stock rail such that a train travelling along the railroad tracks will remain on a first set of rails. However, when the point rails are in the second position, a second point rail will contact/engage a second stock rail such that a train travelling along the railroad tracks will switch to a second set of rails.
As is also known in the art, a detection apparatus detects the position of the movable rails with respect to the first and second stock rails to determine whether or not the movable rails are correctly positioned. The detection apparatus, also known as a point machine, is connected to, and follows the movement of, the point rails and contains switches and other components that detect the position of the rails. If the point machine detects that the appropriate point rail does not become engaged with or is spaced too far away from its corresponding stock rail, the point machine provides an indication that the tracks are unsafe and that trains should not pass over the switching point.
In operation, the point rails are pivoted along an arc. As such, they tend to lift when being moved. Moreover, trains travelling on the rails may cause the rails to bounce. In addition, point rails are subject to thermal expansion and contraction, often referred to as point run. Point lift, bounce and run can cause a shaft connecting the point machine to the point rails to bind or become damaged, rendering the point machine ineffective for its intended purpose. Thus, the installed equipment must account for point rail lift, bounce and run to prevent damage to the point machine connections to the point rails and the mechanisms within the point machine.
Typically, this means that the connections from the point machine will include drop down logs, balls, swivels and rods that are routed under the machine and at least one stock rail and then routed up to the shaft connection to a point rail. Due to the large number of required parts, setting up and aligning the connections will require substantial man power and can be time consuming. Moreover, the equipment will be costly, heavy and complex and will be difficult to adjust once installed. Thus, there is a need and desire for simple, yet robust point machine connections to point rails that overcomes the problems associated with point lift, bounce and run.
It is also known that point machines are mounted to or near at least one stock rail and that stock rails come in different sizes. This means that specific, dedicated point machine hardware is required to connect a point machine to or near the differently sized rails, which is undesirable. Thus, it would be desirable to have common point machine hardware that can be used to interface a point machine with different sized stock rails.